OK - I have been pondering growing for nearly half a year now. I nEEd to find a way to grow some wEEd! The trouble is that it needs to be super stealth, I'm going to be designing my home 60's MOD style soon and its no-doubt gonna raise suspicion. I'm not looking to grow for profit, just for myself and maybe a friend - so what do you all think would be a good way to go? I've seen MH and HPS lights on various sites, but what is a efficient/stealth/compact way I can grow? (I'm worried about the electric bill too, any suggestions on how to avoid having the e. company see my lighting spikes???) In a few weeks or maybe a month I'll post pictures of the area I have to work with (my attic) and I'd really appreciate tips and hints from you exp. growers I might grow some shroomies up there too, but thats another story. And lastly - any suggestions on seeds? I'm looking for short, compact, wquick growing, and not very smelly () - I heard northern lights was good to avoid stink, but I dunno about the height. Thanks so much.
You could start with maybe 6 plants in a closet and just use flouros for vegging and then switch to HPS for flowering. As for the electric company they won't suspect a thing as long as you pay your bill on time. I didn't notice a big change in my bill with a 430W HPS, but then again I don't watch much t.v., I turn my computer off now when I'm not using it, and I unplug all big adapters when I'm home ie cordless phone/answering machine and portable tvs. ...and yea NL#5 is a great first strain to grow.
Cool - I cant really use a closet because they are all in the rest of the house and its going to have white carpet :roll: not the best for growing things on. Do you think 6 plants is a good idea? Should I do maybe 3 in th beginning stages and 3 that are farther along? Or just grow 6 and then start over. Where can I buy NL#5? All the seed banks I've looked at have their seeds listed by brand and they have like 20 brands, who makes NL#5? ---Better yet, who sells NL#5 feminized?
I dont think any thing over a 400 W HID is going to be noticed. They notice large spikes in usage not small increases. And I agree with Vato keep it small at first my first batch was 4 plants, start small and learn the ropes before throwing to much money at it (you dont really need to). Any thing with Northern Lights in it is a good starter plant and see the seedbank forum for ordering info. Good luck
Thanks Actually I hate to push my luck but when I read in all these other forums about how more light is better, I'm really tempted to get one of those 1000w MH/HPS switchable systems. See - I wish I was at home so I could post up some pictures of the space I have to work with - its quite large compared to most of the closet operations, the only thing I really need to worry about is temperature and smell. Like I said, its in my attic, and so its not temperature controlled or insulated like the rest of the house - which means it tends to follow the outdoor conditions. And as for the smell, the attic has a vent directly connected to one of my rooms...its difficult to explain, I will wait till I get home with a digi cam and start up a beginners grow journal.
You could do some power management with timers on appliances, if you have a hot water heater, why not put it on a timer that shuts it off when you're at work or sleeping. same with stuff like chargers and phones and stuff like that, put timers on stuff like tvs and stereos that go to "standby mode" when off, because standby still uses electricity. only downside is clocks will not be right and it may lose memory. How big is your house? if you have a few rooms with a few lightbulbs each it's not unreasonable to use 1000 watts at a time just being home and having lights on, if you got 10-100watt bulbs and you turn 'em all on, or less, and add the wattage of appliances. If you turn on 1-1000 watt bulb what's the diffrence? I live in a small apartment and if i tun on all my light switches i can use 1000 watts plus easy. Now, if they see a 1000 watt INCREASE in yer usage that could be suspicious, so just work on saving power elsewhere and you can quite possibly run 1000 watts for 12/12 and by using aggressive power management tactics, actually lower our overall kilowatt/month usage. Peace
Ya Ive heard mixed things about attics, I guess the general weather situation is going to be a factor. If you live in the arid hot desert the attic is going to be a challenge to keep cool, maybe a small window a/c unit. If you live in a cooler more moderat climate an attic can be good the warm air in your house rises. Also the advantage to an attic is venting warm and stinky air out is a little easier IMO. I really dont think 1000Watts is necesarily noticeable, im just a conservative tight ass. I say start with a 400W system and then if your still diggin it buy another and have one area for veggin and one for flowering? then you can clone and you have 800 watts running plus your goodies also ie fans and other equip. plus the smaller the area the easier to control temp and ventilation Good luck
Well first off - TooSicks, my house is quite large, 4 rooms downstairs, 3 up (one of which is a master bedroom that takes up a full 1/4 of the house. The attic is connected to the master bedroom and is basically a third floor (with the slope of the roof). So basically I would think its reasonable to have a 1000, but again I'm not sure. You're saying that when a computer is shut down, unless its unplugged it will use power? I will have 3 computers (I'm an internet geek) so maybe I can claim that as an excuse. niki - yeh, I live in a moderate climate so so at least for a short time it will be cool enough - plus I already have an attic fan installed that has a simple temperature gauge on it so hopefully it will make things easy. Also during colder weather, I can use a space heater(s) or leave the entrance open to allow warmth to go up.
looks like you got a good template to work with, Im confined to a closet (lol), but I still get enough for me and my "friend". Good luck Sounds like you have read a little already, that will go a long way in your success.
Not the comps, but stuff like TV's, VCR's and stereos that stay in "standby" mode when the power button is turned off. The circuirty inside is still being powered, it's just not turning on the screen or performing it's function of output, but they still use power. If your component in question has a little light or indicator that stays on and indicates a standby condition as a lot of current electronics do, it's still drawing power. The key to power management is creative solutions and knowing how many watts a device uses in both operation and in standby. The operational load can usually be found on thr data plate where serial no's and model no's n crap are. sometimes it's given in amps, just multiply amps x volts to find wattage. ex. I have a thing that runs on 120v and 2 amps, 120x2=240watts is the power the device uses. you can also divide to find amperage, which is useful when it's questionable if a circuit is overloaded. a device that uses 1000w at 120v requires a circuit capable of carrying 8.3~amps of current. 1000\120=8.3333333333~ this means if you have a 20amp circuit you can theoretically run 2-1000 watt lamps and still have a safety buffer of 3.4 amps before the circuit overloads and the breaker trips/fuse blows. This example leaves you with the headroom to run an additional 408watts before the breaker trips. I wouldn't suggest running right up ti the limit of the circuit tho, as heating of the wires causes it's resistance to increase slightly, and when a 20amp circuit approached 19amps, the wire may be heated significantly enough depending on length and conductor type, to draw an additional amp or more and trip the breaker. You're a computer geek? here's an idea, get some empty cases and put them in one area, hook up all the power lights to a battery, and if ever you need to show that your home network is drawing power, all you gotta do is turn on thre fake power lights and say you're a codemonkey and you've been working your network overtime crunchin numbers. Just be creative with it. Peace
yea, even while it's turned off it's still creating energy...I've heard of people germinating seeds on their tvs because it's stays warm even when turned off.
hmm - thats an interesting idea with the computers...would it work if I had real computers though? I mean a computer usually has a 350w power supply (mine has a 480) and aside from the primary I would have a secondary that runs a 350w and eventually a third. I tend to leave them on almost all the time so thats a lot of power drain already, maybe it wont be so unreasonable if I have a lesser wattage light like a 600w switchable, its only 120 more than my main computer. I don't think I want to go as low as 400w because I hear its really only enough for like 3 plants, I want to go above and beyond so I can make my hunnies super strong.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2321183061&category=42225 whats that??? some type of miracle bulb?
Hmm - Well heres the breakdown of what I think I will be getting. $150 400 or 600 watt MH $150 400 or 600 watt HPS $170 Ozone generator $130 pH/EC/TDS/Temperature Tester $60 Continuous hydroponic bubbler system consisting of... a 3.5 gallon dual plant system (for veg cycle) and two 3.5 gallon (same size as the dual plant) systems to transplant from the veg to the flowering. $40 For some Mylar Now all I need is to find very specific advice on what to use to grow it...I'm so tired (its 6:20am and I'm at the point that I think I'll feel better not going to sleep rather than going to sleep and waking up again) Anyways where can I look to find out what I need to grow it with? Thanx
I'm gonna bust out rhino and drw you up a little plan for your grow. just cause i'm in a good mood (oh, wait, i'm always in a good mood)
thanks buddie thats what i reall needed do u want pictures of the room first so u knwo what your dealing with? whats rhino??? some kind of 3d software?